Garment hanger



y 9 1951 j I c. F. MCDONALD 2,551,686

GARMENT HANGER Filed Dec. 50, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

FIG. 4

INVENTOR. @hAuNce v F. M D NA ATTORNEY Filed Dec. 30, 1949 2Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5).

y 11951 c. F. MCDONALD 2,551,686

GARMENT HANGER Patented May 8, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFWE GARMENTHANGER Chauncey F. McDonald, Oswego, N. Y.

Application December 30, 1949, Serial No. 135,885

4 Claims. (01. 223-93) This invention relates to improvements in garmenthangers and is concerned more especially with a skirt hanger or combinedskirt and coat hanger.

A primary object of the invention is the provision of a hanger ofextremely simple design and construction which is arranged in such amanner that a, garment may be readily supported thereon and removedtherefrom by convenient manipulation with a single band lorespecifically, the invention contemplates the provision of a hangerincluding the usual curved hanger bar and a novel resilient spring steelmember associated therewith. The resilient spring steel member is formedwith a central portion or segment which is bowed outwardly from theconcave lower edge of the hanger bar and with a pair of integral outergarment-- supporting portions whose disposition with respect to thehanger bar may be readily controlled by manipulation of the centralbowed segment. The outer garment-supporting portions are each providedwith an inner segment extending from the central segment to a pointadjacent the end of the hanger bar and with an angularly inclined outerarm portion extending downwardly beyond the ends of the hanger bar. Theinner segments of the garment-supporting portions normally abut thelower edge of the hanger bar and maintain the angularly inclined outerarms in their operative position of maximum separation in order tosupport the garment, such as a skirt. When the central segment ismanually pressed toward the hanger bar, the garmentsupporting portionsare retracted inwardly from their normal position of maximum separationthereby moving the inner segments thereof out of abutment against thehanger bar whereupon the garment may be easily adjusted in position.Upon releasing the central segment the garment-supporting portionsautomatically assume their normal position of maximum separation toretain the garment thereupon. The removal of the garment from the hangeris efiected merely by manually pressing inwardly the central segment ofthe spring member toward the hanger bar. The arrangement of theinvention requires the use of only one hand for simultaneouslysupporting the hanger and manipulating the central segment of the springmember. It will be understood that the spring member is fastened to thehanger bar at the point of intersection of each inner segment of thegarment supporting portion with the central bowed segment.

The foregoing objects as well as additional objects and advantages willbe readily apparent in the course of the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates apreferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein:

Fig. l is an elevational View of a garment hanger constructed inaccordance with the present invention and illustrates the normaloperative position of the resilient spring member;

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the retraction of the outergarment-supporting portions of the spring member incident to pressinginwardly the central bowed segment preparatory to supporting a garmenton said outer portions;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan View clearly showing the various segmentalportions of the resilient spring member;

Fig. 4 is a view showing a. garment applied to the hanger with thenormally bowed central segment of the spring member pressed inwardlytoward the hanger bar with a single hand, and

Fig. 5 is a view showing a skirt in solid line applied to the hanger anda jacket shown in broken lines.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, the hanger includes acurved hanger bar it of wood, plastic, metal or any other suitablematerial provided with a central suspension hook i i. The resilientspring member I2 may be con veniently formed from a sheet metal stripbent to provide a central segment l3, which is normally bowed outwardlyfrom the concave undersurface of hanger bar it, and a pair of outergarment supporting portions l4 integral with said central segment. Eachouter portion M is further provided with an inner segment I5 extendingfrom central segment It to a point its adjacent the end of hanger bar H3and an angularly inclined outer arm portion ll extending downwardlybeyond the ends of the hanger bar It. The free ends of arms I! arepreferably provided with protective tips 18 of rubber or similarmaterial in order to prevent snagging or damaging of the garment to besuspended on the hanger.

Spring member [2 is loosely secured to the undersurface of hanger bar IDby means of suitable fastening elements such as screws Hl positioned atthe angular intersections of each inner segment I5 of outer portion I lwith the central segment I3. Inner segments I5 normally lie in abutmentagainst the undersurface of hanger bar [0 and maintain the angularlyinclined outer arms I! in their operative position of maximumseparation, as shown in Fig. 1, in order to support a garment such as askirt or dress between outer portions l4 and hanger bar I0. When thenormally outwardly bowed central segment I3 is pressed inwardl towardhanger bar In, outer portions M are retracted inwardly toward each otherfrom their normal position of maximum separation thereby moving innersegments [5 out of abutment against hanger bar l9 into the position ofFigs. 2 and 4, whereupon the garment may be easily adjusted intoposition. The arrangement of the present invention thus allows thehanger to be supported in one hand while pressing the central segment l3inwardly toward the hanger bar ll] thereby causing the outergarment-supporting portions l4 to be swung downwardly and inwardly aboutthe screws i9 which serve as pivots. When the garment-supportingportions M are in the inwardly retracted position of Figs. 2 and 4, agarment may be easily adjusted into or removed from suspended position.The broken outline in Fig. 2 illustrates a position of the outergarment-supporting portions 14 intermediate the fully retracted positionof Fig. 2 and the normal position of Fig. 1.

In order to insure automatic restoration of the outer portions [4 to thenormal separated position of Fig. 1 upon manually releasing centralsegment [3, said central segment is preferably formed with asubstantially horizontal portion 20 and a pair of upwardly divergent,angularly inclined portions or arms 2| forming obtuse angles with saidhorizontal portion, as shown at 22. In pressing the central segment [3inwardly toward the hanger bar [0, the hand applies a flexing stresssuflicient to overcome the natural tendency of the central segment tomaintain the outwardly bowed, normal configuration of Fig. 1, therebyretracting the garment-supporting portions l4. Upon releasing themanually applied stress the central segment l3, comprising thehorizontal portion 20 and the angularly inclined arms 2|, immediatelyreturns to the normal outwardly bowed position thereby simultaneouslyrestoring the outer portions [4 to their normal separated position. Byreason of the described arrangement, the outer garment-supportingportions (4 of the spring member l2 may be manually retracted andautomatically separated following retracting by a kind of toggle action.

The preferred formation of the central segment l3 to define asubstantially horizontal portion 20 and a pair of angularly inclinedflanking arms 2| also assures substantially equal application of themanually applied flexing stress to the garment-supporting portions M inthe retraction thereof.

Since certain modifications may be made in the device of the presentinvention without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended thatall matter contained in the foregoing specification and shown in theaccompanying drawing be interpreted merely as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A garment hanger comprising a curved hanger bar having a concaveundersurface and a flat resilient spring member, said spring mer. berhaving a central segment normally bowed outwardly from said hanger barand a pair of outer garment-supporting portions integral with saidcentral segment, each of said outer portions comprising an inner segmentnormally abutting the undersurface of said hanger bar and an angularlyinclined terminal segment extending beyond a respective end of saidhanger bar, and fastening elements loosely securing said spring memberto the hanger bar at the angular intersections between said innersegments and central segment, to provide a pivot point whereby toinwardly retract said outer garment-supporting portions for suspensionof a garment thereupon upon pressing said central segment against saidhanger bar and to automatically extend said outer portions to normallyseparated position upon releasing said central segment.

2. A garment hanger comprising a curved hanger bar having a concaveundersurface and a fiat resilient spring member, said spring memberhaving a central segment normally bowed outwardly from said hanger barand a pair of outer garment-supporting portions integral with saidcentral segment, each of said outer portions comprising an inner segmentnormally abutting the undersurface of said hanger bar and an angularlyinclined terminal segment extending downwardly beyond a respective endof said hanger bar, said inner segment extending from said centralsegment to a point adjacent the end of said hanger bar, and fasteningelements loosely securing said spring member to the hanger bar at theangular intersections between said inner segments and said centralsegment, to provide a pivot point whereby to inwardly retract said outergarment-supporting portions for suspension of a garment thereupon uponpressing said central segment against said hanger bar and toautomatically extend said outer portions to normally separated positionupon releasing said central segment.

3. A garment hanger comprising a curved hanger bar having a concaveundersurface and a fiat resilient spring member, said spring memberhaving a central segment normally bowed outwardly from said hanger barand a pair of outer garment-supporting portions integral with saidcentral segment, said central segment defining an intermediatesubstantially horizontal portion and a pair of upwardly divergent sideportions forming obtuse angles therewith, each of said outergarment-supporting portions comprising an inner segment normallyabutting 'the undersurface of said hanger bar and forming an angularintersection with a respective side portion of the central segment and aterminal segment angularly inclined with respect to said inner segmentand extending downwardly beyond a respective end of said hanger bar, andfastening elements loosely securing said spring member to the hanger barat the angular intersections between said inner segments and the sideportions of said central segments, to provide a pivot point whereby toinwardly retract said outer garment-supporting portions for suspensionof a garment thereupon upon pressing the horizontal portion of saidcentral segment against said hanger bar and to automatically extend saidouter portions to normally separated position upon releasing saidhorizontal portion.

4. A garment hanger comprising a curved hanger bar having a concaveundersurface and a fiat resilient spring member, said spring memberhaving a central segment normally bowed outwardly from said hanger barand a pair of outer garment-supporting portions integral with saidcentral segment, said central segment defining an intermediatesubstantially horizontal portion and a pair of upwardly divergent sideportions forming obtuse angles therewith, each of said outergarment-supporting portions comprising an inner segment normallyabutting the undersurface of said hanger bar and forming an angularintersection with a respective side portion of the central segment and aterminal segment angularly inclined with respect to said inner segmentand extending downwardly beyond a respective end of said hanger bar,said inner segment extending from its angular intersection with the sideportion of said central segment to a point adjacent the end of saidhanger bar, and fastening elements loosely securing said spring memberto the hanger bar at the angular intersections between said innersegments and the side portions of said central segments, to provide apivot point whereby to inwardly retract said 15 69 outergarment-supporting portions for suspension of a garment thereupon uponpressing the horizontal portion of said central segment against saidhanger bar and to automatically extend said outer portions to normallyseparated position upon releasing said horizontal portion.

CHAUNCEY F. McDONALD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Shannon Sept. 24, 1940 Number

